Alisha James
Clean Candles are they even a thing?
"Are your candles safe?" This is a question I hear often and honestly there isn't a quick answer. Truthfully there is no such thing as a safe candle. You are lighting tiny fires in your home setting them on counters, wooden tables, placing them inside of candle holders and on occasion may even forget about them. BUT what my customers are actually asking are "Are your candles CLEAN? Do they produce toxins? Will they trigger allergies/asthma?"
Now I will try not to bore you so please hang with me! I have done extensive research. I use 100% soy wax grown in the United States (thank you, farmers!), cotton wicks and in my opinion the cleanest fragrance oil on the market. These oils are free from carcinogens, reproductive toxins, and other potentially hazardous chemicals often found in other fragrance oils. To elaborate the information below is straight from the fragrance oil supplier I use
(https://www.candlescience.com/introducing-candlescience-clean-scents):
There are five main “hazard groups” that we simply don't allow.
✖ Carcinogens: These are materials known or thought to cause cancer.
✖ Mutagens: Materials that change the DNA of a cell, harming the cell and causing diseases like cancer.
✖ Reproductive toxins: Toxins that adversely affect reproductive organs and increase the risk of birth defects.
✖ Organ toxins: These are toxins that can cause adverse effects or disease within specific bodily organs.
✖ Acute toxins: Toxins that can cause adverse effects from a single exposure. Generally, this would be accidental exposure like spillage or ingestion.
Now, on to our next subject...
Essential oils used in candles. There is a lot of popularity with candles scented with essential oils. While there are a ton of amazing candle makers out there that SAFELY use only essential oils to scent their wax it can be extremely dangerous to utilize this practice without the proper education. For instance there are essential oils that become toxic when burned or inhaled. Even though I strictly use essential oils in every other product I make and stay far away from fragrance oils and dyes in face/body/bath products I personally do not feel comfortable stepping into essential oil scented candle territory just yet.
One piece of advice I can offer is if you prefer candles that are made with pure essential oils I encourage you to reach out to the maker and verify that there are no fragrance oils used in combination of essential oils. As we all know labels can be misleading and truth be told those candles may just have one tiny drop of Lavender or Cinnamon! I mean c'mon when is the last time you saw a sugar cookie being squeezed for its essential oil! Oh and I am absolutely looking at you big box store companies!
In the end I make candles and wax melts that I feel comfortable burning in my home, gifting to friends/family, and selling to my customers. NOW, If you are looking for the cleanest candle possible to burn in your home I suggest plain ol' beeswax made locally with no fragrance nor essential oil. You could even take it a step further and forget all about your candles/wax melts and invest in an essential oil diffuser! I hope this post brings clarity and if you have additional questions please do not hesitate to reach out!
As always,
peace. love. growth.
Alisha